Ondas bets big on Israel with $1B investment over past year

Ondas has invested $1 billion in Israel, Dr. Judith Hocherman-Frommer, CTO and chief engineer of Ondas Autonomous Systems, announced at the UVID DroneTech 2026 conference at Expo Tel Aviv. “Investment in Israel is becoming mission critical,” she said, adding that the US-based company has acquired 27 defense-tech companies over the past 18 months, the majority being Israeli companies. The others are from the United States or Europe."We do not only acquire companies; we invest in each one to maximize its capabilities and create opportunities for collaboration among them to solve operational challenges in real time,” she added.The acquisitions are part of Ondas' broader push to build a vertically integrated defense technology company spanning the development, manufacturing, and deployment of autonomous systems. Its portfolio includes autonomous drones, counter-UAS systems, robotic ground platforms, unmanned aircraft, and systems for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions.The company's motto, she said, is “Bots before boots,” with autonomous systems leading and clearing the way ahead of the warfighter.According to Hocherman-Frommer, threats are evolving at a pace not seen before, within months rather than years, and therefore require fast, practical responses as well as strong integration between Israel's operational innovation and global manufacturing and deployment infrastructures.The modern battlefield is creating “a democratization of low-cost threats at massive scale, asymmetric warfare, and a constant learning race that demands flexibility…